Shekarau: Kwankwasiya is a cult group
Ibrahim Shuaibu and Jaiyeola Andrews
Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, has said he will now sleep with both eyes closed as a result of change in the leadership change of the state House of Assembly.
This came as a former governor of the state, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, accused Kwankwaso of running his political group, Kwankwasiya as a cult group.
But Kwankwaso, who spoke yesterday, during a meeting with members state Community Reorientation Council (CRC) from the 44 local government areas of the state at Government House, Kano, noted that hitherto, he was not comfortable with the leadership of the assembly, urging the new leadership of the assembly to remain determined and focused in the task ahead of them.
Kwankwaso remarked that the new speaker, Hon. Ishaq Ali Danja, was a reliable gentleman, expressing optimism that the cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature in the state would be solidified.
The governor stated that before the PDP-Kwankwasiyya left the PDP for APC in Kano, there were 31 PDP lawmakers, pointing out that presently, the new party has 34 legislators.
He urged politicians in the state who have not joined the APC to do so soon, as the party is poised to reposition Nigerian by the time it wins the 2015 general elections.
The governor also called on CRC members to ensure they register with party, adding that they should equally propagate the manifesto of the APC in order to have more supporters.
In his remarks, the state chairman of CRC, Alhaji Bello Magaji Toranke, commended the governor for the rapid transformation of the state, assuring him that they would do everything possible to ensure that APC gains intimidating membership.
Meanwhile, Shekarau, who spoke to State House correspondents yesterday, shortly after he visited Vice-President Namadi Sambo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, equally said Kwankwaso’s defection to All Progressives Congress (APC) could not kill the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The former governor said the meeting was not special, but a continuation of rubbing of mind.
According to him, he was now part and parcel of the PDP family, and would always be meeting with one party functionary or the other to continue to rub minds on how the party and the nation would be moved forward.
On Kwankwaso’s defection to APC, Shekarau said: “His defection cannot kill PDP. Those current with situation on ground knew that the governor of Kano had long before now been out of PDP. What he is running is Kwankwasiya, a cultism kind of a group.
“PDP has always been there, so what we are doing is we are now joining PDP and his group has gone into APC. We shall see whether we are the ones on ground or the Kwankwasiya APC. We checked out from the APC when we discovered that some of the principal actors in the merger did not mean well,” he said.
He noted that the ideologies of all political parties are one and the same, saying: “It is all about Nigeria and Nigerians, it is all about what we do to move the nation forward.
“Everybody is talking about serving Nigerians. We are all heading to the same destination, the only difference is that we are taking different routes. As far as I am concerned, I am just continuing to make myself available to serve humanity regardless of the platform.”
On the clamour for northern presidency in 2015, Shekarau said he does not subscribed to the argument of localising the Presidency to a particular region.
“If you had followed my arguments and my presentations or debates in the presidential election, I said so. My concern is what do we do to get the right leadership regardless of where it is coming from.
“This issue of rotational presidency is not the issue. What we should be talking about is balancing so that we carry people along. Today, if I am a presidential candidate from Kano and I tell you that my running mate is from Katsina, won’t you think I am crazy?
“Do I have to have that written in any document or constitution for me to know that if I am a presidential candidate from Kano, my running mate has to come from the other side? There is the law and constitution of common sense. So, this argument that it has to be my turn and it has to be my village man is all rubbish. It is the problem of lack of confidence among ourselves Nigerians.”
He, however, restated his preparedness to campaign for the PDP and whoever emerges as the candidate of the party at any level.
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